Appropriating a Maya Angelou Poem in the Form of a Pun Seemed Inappropriate
I’m in thesis revision mode, so I get anxious when I take away time from that to do anything else. That didn’t stop me from watching Downton Abbey online last night though. Nor will it stop me from catching up with Drag Race later. But I have the first draft of my book right beside me, held together with two giant rubber bands. The first thing I did was to go through with a pencil and transcribe my thesis adviser’s comments so that I could read them. (There is only one comment that I was unable to decipher, but right now it looks like: gbbbtt description maybe these wyveron. I’m choosing to interpret that as praise.) My next task is to keep the giant rubber bands out of my cat’s mouth. He already took a bite out of my title page. Again, I will assume this is enthusiasm because I will take what I can get right through here.
The easy part will be incorporating the line-edits. I love a good line-edit, and I’m fortunate in that my first reader edits without changing my style–something that isn’t as easy as it sounds. The hard part will be figuring out what to about the holes and the passages that aren’t working as well as they were a couple years ago because I’ve changed and so has my point of view. But I’ve worked for two-plus years to get to this moment. Nothing to do but flip over the first page again and begin–again.
I’ll be back soon, but in the meantime check out Creative Nonfiction’s Winter 2013 issue. They have published an all-women essay section! I’ve been trying to pick one or two lit journals to which I might pledge my loyalty in the form of a subscription. (The one magazine I currently subscribe to is The Normal School.) I think CNF just won me over. In a similar vein, Flavorwire has a list of 17 Essays by Female Writers That Everyone Should Read. I love passing on these gems and promoting other writers, so I hope you enjoy them. And since I am too busy to get to them right away, somebody needs to be appreciating them.
Lastly, speaking of other writers, I want to give a cyber-hug to FlashMemoirs, which posted my flash nonfiction story titled The Rooster. Check out this blog as well if you like very short stories.
Stay tuned for my next post which will be titled Why Does My Cat Keep Biting My Thesis?
Hugs back at you! And thanks for calling out the all-women essay section on CNF – gotta love that!